Epilogue
by Christopher Corvinus
Summary: All things must come full circle, even for those immortal. Now Claire and her family can rest, knowing that they did the task. They saved the cheerleader, so that she could save the world.


_Author's Note:_

_This is the epilogue of a story I've been writing for some time. I decided to post this because it's vague enough not to give away the plot, but descriptive enough to give some indication of the actual storyline. If I get enough reviews I'll post the rest, so if you like, review, if not, review anyway and tell me what I'm doing wrong._

It was nearly midnight, and Angela and the children had gone to bed for the night, leaving the adults in the living room, lounging on various pieces of furniture. Peter lay on the couch, his head propped on one armrest and his feet on the other, looking quite comfortable. Gabriel lay on the floor, leaning against the same sofa while Elle rested her head against him, Gabriel's arm wrapped protectively around her middle. Nathan sat in his reclined chair, a glass of scotch held in his hand while Tracey lay against him, her head resting in the crook of his neck. The five of them shared an equal look somewhere between contemplation and contentment, most of them starring into the crackling fire that Elle had insisted upon. Hiro lay on the mirrored couch, in a position identical to Peters. The revelation that Peter and Hiro were half brothers was a shock to say the least, one that I didn't know from my time. The revelation brought many emotions, heartbreak from Nathan and uncontrollable laughter from Hiro, having never had a brother and now that the last of his family had died, Hiro sought solace in his new, extended family. To the untrained eye he looked the same as ever, full of hope, optimism, levels of joy approaching ecstasy but I knew different, I knew him from my time, and he had grown into a man I believe his father would have been proud of, strong, confident, determined and unafraid to make the difficult choice from the greater good. I lay on the last reclining chair, propped upright as I watched the room. Claire sat in my lap, resting her back against my chest; unknowingly I had snaking my arms around her, intertwining our fingers and buried my nose in her hair, drinking in the scent of her delicious shampoo. I didn't have to see her face to know she was drifting off, and I silently summoned a thick blanket to cover the both of us, tucking us in with the invisible hands. Claire let out a small sigh in appreciation as I pressed a gentle kiss to the back of her neck, whispering a wordless goodnight as I felt her pulse slow, and knew her dreams had taken over. I cradled my precious angel in my arms, careful not to disturb her as I lifted my head and looked out across the other members of our family, my eyes landing on my mother's form, who it seemed had fallen asleep as well. I followed her hands to Gabriel's; my father's hands and was struck by a thought, causing a faint chuckle to escape my lips.

"What?" Peter asked, propping an eye open and internally I smirked, obviously not faint enough to escape Gabriel's enhanced hearing, or Peter's telepathy.

"You where right" I smiled, looking down at my father "You were always right"

"About what?" Gabriel asked confusedly

"It was an evolutionary imperative, the instinct to pass on the strongest genes to produce the strongest offspring" I started slowly "You where right, look at us. The three strongest people on the face of the earth" I explained, watching as an identical smirk crept across my father's face, and both Peter and Gabriel laughed at the truth of the statement

"I guess I was" Gabriel mused

"Hey" Peter whispered, pointing to Nathan who had fallen asleep with a feather against his lips, which blew away softly before being sucked back in with every breath he took. The three of us bit our lips as one to keep from laughing. The glass of scotch fell from Nathan's hand and fell to the floor, before being telekinetically caught by not one, but all three of us.

"That's weird" Peter laughed, setting the glass down silently on the floor

"Runs in the family" I noted, causing a wide grin to creep across Gabriel's face

"Fire's dying down" a sudden mumble interrupted, and my eyes fell on Claire, who was sleepily rolling on her side, resting her head against my chest, her ear pressed against my shirt as she listened to the rhythmic echo of my heartbeat. Wordless and almost without a second thought I shot a small jolt of electricity at the fire, promptly bringing it back to life

"That's my boy" Elle smiled, her eyes opening at the sound of the electrical hum, Gabriel smiled and pressed a loving kiss atop her head.

"We should get to bed" Elle smiled, looking up at her husband

"You guys gonna stay the night?" Peter asked

"Sure, I want to open my presents" Elle stated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, causing Peter to laugh quietly. Elle pushed herself up and helped her husband stand

"Goodnight Peter" Gabriel waved, "Goodnight son" he smiled, I replied with my own wave, watching as my mother walked over and placed a kiss on my forehead

"Goodnight son, sweet dreams" she whispered, linking arms with Gabriel and disappearing up the stairs. Peter pushed himself up as well, with far too much energy for this time

"I'm going up to, goodnight all" Peter called, jogging up the stairs to his room. I silently bade him goodnight as he disappeared from view, before looking down at my own angel, knowing I should wake her, knowing she's be stiff in the morning. But simply didn't want to, content instead to watch how the firelight danced across her face, how her golden curls seemed almost radiant in the otherwise dim night. I decided to do the lazy thing and teleported us to our room, upon landing on our soft bed Claire stirred, her eyes flickering open.

"Hey" I greeted, barely above a whisper

"Hey you" she replied, her tone perfectly matching my own. She looked around for a moment before comprehension dawned upon her, "I should get changed" she noted, looking down at her severely creased clothes. I nodded, summoning our night clothes from one of the draws, mentally thanking Brian Davis for such a useful power. We gently undressed one another, pulling off our day clothes and draping our more comfortable pyjamas over ourselves. As I did so I gently laid kisses to her stomach and throat, not kisses that betrayed my desire for her, but rather simple kisses that portrayed my love for the woman I would spent the rest of my life with. When we where both finally dressed, we settled beneath the covers and wrapped our arms around one another, by now her tiredness had faded. I felt her head turn to glance at the clock, and a smile creep over her face

"It's past midnight, Christmas day" she smiled, I returned a grin of my own, running my fingers through her long hair and summoning my courage

"I have a present for you" I smiled, and her eyes alighting with excitement. I reached over to a draw on the bedside table, and removed the small box. Claire's brow creased as she tried to guess what her first present was. I rolled back beside her and held the small box before her, gently pressing it into her hand. Her breath caught in her throat as realisation fell over her, unable to stop the shocked expression on her face. She gently opened the box, and was met with the sight of a ring, a beautiful silver ring with a moderately sized diamond starring defiantly up at her, with smaller emeralds either side. She removed the ring from it's confides and held it between her fingers, marvelling at it's beauty; her brain not quite grasping the implications behind such a gift, that was until I spoke the four fateful words

"Will you marry me?" I whispered, pleadingly. Claire tore her eyes away from the ring and locked them onto my own, sensing the nervousness my cool façade concealed. Then I was met with the most beautiful thing I could have possibly asked for, a smile worthy of heaven crept over her face, her eyes dazzling in excitement and tears of joy stinging at them.

"Yes" she laughed, throwing her arms around my neck, crushing her lips against mine. I eagerly returned the kiss with passion I thought I had lost, but after a long moment the need for air became a problem, and we both pulled back; just long enough for me to slide the ring onto her finger.

"I didn't get you anything" she sighed, to which I only smiled

"Yes you did" I replied, placing another loving kiss on her lips. Claire smiled and looked down at her left hand, idly wondering when we should set a date. I however couldn't tear my eyes away from my girlfriend, my fiancée.

"Claire?" I asked, and her eyes danced up to meet mine "I love you" I whispered, catching her lips with my own, Claire pushed back though, her eyes playful and her smile teasing

"I love you too. But promise me something?" she asked

"Anything" I instantly replied

"Promise me you'll tell your parents" Claire laughed,

"Deal" I grinned, pulling her back down to my lips as I ran a hand to the back of her head, letting her luscious hair fall between my fingers like a waterfall while my other hand snaking down to grab her thigh. Needless to say sleep was the last thing on our mind that night.

The next morning Claire and I ventured down around eight o'clock, neither of us slept a wink last night, to busy with celebrations. However we didn't show it, and I gave a silent thanks to Claire's regenerative ability. We walked into the kitchens still wearing our pyjamas, as was the rest of the family, a tradition of sorts. For one day a year, the Petrelli's where not political, analytical or formal, they where casual and relaxed, and spent all day in their pyjamas. I walked into the kitchen with Claire's back pressed firmly against my front, my arms holding her tightly against me as I kissed her neck and nibbled her earlobe. My father was in the kitchen with Peter and Hiro, the three of whom flaunting their powers to make waffles by the bucket load. Gabriel looked up first, and noticed our usually happy mood had elevated to ecstatically blissful levels.

"Someone's in a good mood" he commented, looking over us suspiciously

"We've got the Christmas spirit" Claire laughed. I had hidden the ring behind a small band of invisibility, to avoid repeating the news several times.

"Yes, merry Christmas!" Hiro announced, holding his arms high above his head, proving that some habits do in fact die hard.

"No, there's something else" Gabriel murmured, ignoring Hiro's outburst

"Probably something to do with the fact that they where up all night going at it like rabbits" Peter laughed, at which Claire blushed uncontrollably but Peter was merciless, and continued "I know you have a lot of abilities dude but don't you have a silencing power? All I could hear last night was-" before he was interrupted by his waffle mix being dumped over his head by a severely embarrassed Claire, promptly causing him to hold his hands up in surrender

"Alright, alright I surrender" Peter laughed, all the while I poured three cups of coffee, handing one to my dad and easing another into Claire's iron grip, tugging her to my side, partially because I missed the skin contact, and partially to save Peter from having the coffee thrown at him.

"I hope you're using protection" Gabriel said in his best fatherly tone

"Don't worry, you're not gonna be a grandfather before you're thirty" I replied, smiling at the strangeness of the sentence, while Gabriel nodded his acceptance. Hiro opened his mouth to launch into the complexity of time travel, but a look from Peter quickly ended it

"Morning all" Elle greeted as she walked inside rubbing her eyes, wordlessly I handed her the third cup of coffee and she rewarded me with a kiss to the cheek

"My handsome men are too good to me" she smiled, standing beside her husband and looking down appreciatively at the breakfast he was preparing

"Smells great" she commented, before looking back up at the group

"Good morning" Nathan greeted, emerging from the side entrance with his wife and mother in tow, clapping his hands together at the sight of food

"Gabriel you're a godsend" Nathan said in a more heartfelt tone than I could ever recall hearing, my father smiled and began removing plates from a cupboard while Peter flipped the waffles onto said plates. Elle's hands flew faster than I thought possible to the jug housing the maple syrup, and poured a liberal amount onto her breakfast.

"Great, Elle with lots of sugar, a wonderful combination" I laughed, while Elle threw me a dirty look, before continuing to devour her food. After a few minutes all of us where sitting around the kitchen counter hungrily eating out delicious food, and more than a few eyebrows had been raised at Claire's and my oddly intimate behaviour, but no questions where asked, trusting us to tell them when we where ready. Once the food was consumed and the dishes dropped in the sink, we moved into the living room once more where, again at Elle's insistence, we lit the fire and crowded into the room, each of us waiting to receive our gifts. I projected a silent question into Claire's mind as we sat down, to which she nodded and we rose once more, standing before the fireplace

"Before we begin with the tradition of making an unbelievable mess, laughing, jumping up and down in excitement etcetera, Claire and I have an announcement to make" I began, wrapping my arm around her shoulders, before taking a deep breath "We're getting married" I smiled, lifting the barrier so that the ring flooded into sight. The reaction was instantaneous, we where flooded with congratulations and praise. The only unhappy face was Elle's

"What?" I asked curiously

"You did this on purpose!" she said, smacking me on the forearm "The split second I get used to the idea of having a son, you give me a daughter as well!" she ranted, before a wide grin spread across her lips "Congratulations!" she then squealed, throwing her arms around my neck in excitement. I rolled my eyes slightly at her sudden mood change, but was overwhelmed with relief at the same time, afraid she would disapprove. Even though this Elle wasn't technically my mother, not the one who raised me anyway, her opinion still meant the world to me. After a round of congratulations went through, Peter pulled me aside into the study, to which I smiled, knowing what was coming.

"Angel, before we begin I just want you to know that I like you, I think you're a good person, and a good match for Claire, and you have my blessing. But I just want you to know, if you ever hurt her, if you ever bring her to harm, I will kill you" Peter said simply, as it commenting on the weather, but I had no doubt about the seriousness of the conversation

"I wouldn't expect anything less Peter. And I'm thankful you've given me your blessing, it means a lot to me. But I realise how lucky I am, there are five people in this world that can live forever, and four of them are under this roof. I realise that I've found my soul mate, in a woman who I can watch the world grow old with. I've found her, and I'll never let go" I replied softly, watching Claire through the glass doors. Peter followed my gaze and smiled, clapping a hand on my shoulder, his trademark lopsided grin in place

"That's good enough for me" he replied, pulling me out the room to rejoin the group. I walked over to Claire and took a seat beside her, dropping a kiss onto her cheek

"Hey, what did Peter want?" she asked

"Nothing, just guy talk" I replied simply. Claire smiled and rested her head against me once more, adopting our familiar pose, the presents forgotten for the moment. After a second Hiro approached us and took a seat beside me

"Congratulations cheerleader Claire, you too Angel" Hiro declared in Japanese

"Thank you; you will of course be attending the wedding?" I asked, again in Japanese

"Wouldn't miss it for the world" Hiro smiled, before turning serious "I have one request, you allow me to pay for the wedding"

"I couldn't let you" I protested

"No, you are a good student Gabriel, and you have a pure heart. You saved the world and taught me there is more to a hero than making the right decisions, I wish to offer my sincerest thanks" Hiro retorted, pushing his glasses up his nose slightly

"What?" Claire asked, her Japanese still somewhat lacking

"I would like to pay for the wedding, as president of Yakamoto industries it would be no trouble" Hiro said, switching effortlessly to English "I insist"

"You're too kind" Claire sighed, smiling her thanks

"So it is agreed?" Hiro asked

"Yes, you may pay for the wedding" I conceded

"Not to sound self centred, but this would do wonders for my campaign" Nathan commented "A union between Japanese and American industries"

"You're right that did sound self centred" Peter laughed, causing Nathan to literally jump across the table and tackle the younger man to the floor

"Ladies and gentlemen the president of the United States" my mother said in a mocking tone, laughter shining in her eyes as she watched the grown men wrestle across the floor. A smile lit up on my face as I watched Nathan and Peter continue to roll around on the floor like teenagers once more, my parents sharing an intimate embrace, Hiro and Tracey digging through the pile of presents for their own, curiosity in their eyes. Inevitably I looked back down at Claire, who was watching me silently, a loving expression on her face

"If I have to live forever, I can't think of anyone I'd rather spend it with" she smiled, resting her forehead against mine. My smile grew wider as I repeated her words, before placing a hungry kiss on her lips, silently marvelling at the fact that no matter how many times I kissed those lips, I felt tingles run down my spine and fireworks explode in my mind every time. After we parted I glanced round the room once more and looked at my father and Peter, who stood in a corner talking quietly them and I smiled. I had a father, who could watch over me forever and a mother who loved me unconditionally. Claire had a father who loves her no matter what and an uncle who would spend eternity looking out for her. I had found a beautiful woman who I could share my gift of forever with, and I'm gonna hold onto her until its end. Because as a wise man once said: _In the end, all that really matters is love._


End file.
